


Escape! - 27 A.B.

by FanFicReader01



Series: The Unknown Below [4]
Category: Poets of the Fall
Genre: Confusion, Hurt, Post-Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-09
Updated: 2019-08-09
Packaged: 2020-08-13 14:36:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20175889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FanFicReader01/pseuds/FanFicReader01
Summary: Suddenly his eyes open up. But it looks like his eyes are still shut tight. Darkness all around him. Is he in the water? There’s no sense of liquids. He feels strange.





	Escape! - 27 A.B.

**Author's Note:**

> Story 4

Suddenly his eyes open up. But it looks like his eyes are still shut tight. Darkness all around him. Is he in the water? There’s no sense of liquids. He feels strange. Then a light above the man comes into vision. He realizes his body is _rising_. Drifting to the surface of whatever he’s in now. A blue light shines into the bewildered man’s eyes. With a hand he tries to block the… sun? Now he sees the silhouette of his own hand. It looks different than before. Before. Before what? By the time the man is fully outside of the strangeness he came from, out of reflex he grasps onto the rocky wall nearest to him. He has claws, making it easier to hold onto the sharp stone. Taking his time to get used to it all, the man becomes aware of a lot of things.

First, his body. He’s wearing a button up shirt and jeans. They’re all painted black. Coated in a weird layer of darkness. Black smoke emits from his shoulders and feet. When he opens his mouth and licks his lips, they’re dry. More smoke swivels out of his orifice. His teeth feel sharp when his tongue goes over them. It all feels so unfamiliar. The man doesn’t feel home in his own body. Which brings him to the point of the urgent question: who is he?

Somewhere in the back of his confused mind, he’s sure he used to be a normal human. A human whose skin wasn’t burnt black like coal and ash. Whose body didn’t emit weird smoke.

Realizing he didn’t have a proper answer to his own identity, he becomes aware of the mysterious environment.

Above him spreads a gigantic blue sky, filled with clouds and floating islands. Beneath him is that darkness. That’s where he came from, right? And now he is holding onto some mountainesque island in the middle of nowhere. This place feels familiar. It must be the place where he had been before he changed into… this thing.

Desperately in need of answers and clarity, the confused man decides to climb upward and see what more is out there. Much to his surprise, his body is agile and it doesn’t take him long to climb up the mountain. Once on top, a new feeling washes over him. Hunger. With no proper memories whatsoever, the man assumes it must be a long time since he last ate. In the corner of his eyes, he sees something shift. His hunger makes his senses sharper. There’s the smell of… _fresh blood!_ Without control over his mind nor his limbs, the man jumps to the thing that was behind him.

A punch in his face, brought him back to his conscience.

“I see. You _are_ an Escapist,” a clear voice mutters. The man who had just lost his control, looks up. The sun behind the other guy, turns said guy also in a darkness. His eyes seem to glow a bright white.

“Here, take my hand.”

Not sure what else to do, the man hesitatingly does so.

_Hatanaka Hibiki_ _ – Got warped into the Oblivion during its creation – Roaming this new world for years… Escapists – Fear of losing your mind – **I crave blood****!!**_

** **

Their hands untangle and suddenly the man realizes more about this stranger. The stranger told his name _through touch_! Hibiki has long, grey strands of hair hanging in front of his face. The whole haircut is wild and messy. He wears old, torn clothes.

“I told you…my name. What’s yours?”

“M-my name,” the man coughs. Speaking is difficult. It’s like there’s something stuck in his throat. Again he coughs. Clueless he keeps his mouth shut. Hibiki then comes closer again. His hand reaches out and takes something from the smaller man’s neck. A dog tag?

“Your name… is Jari Salminen,” Hibiki then confirms.

“W-what am I?” Jari, now that’s his name apparently, stammers. He still doesn’t understand anything. And those strange memories Hibiki just shared? Didn’t make sense either.

“You an Escapist. Like me. Look,” the taller man points out the subtle smoke coming from his clothes. “Come with me.” Hibiki leads Jari to a strange vehicle. It reminds Jari of some past vehicle, a scooter or something? Except the thing doesn’t have tires at all. Trusting this fellow ‘Escapist’, Jari jumps on the scooter and Hibiki flies them all the way up until they reach a small hut. There’s three other people sitting outside next to a campfire.

“Another one?” one grumbles.

Upon closer look, Jari realizes these people also look oddly inhuman despite their bodily proportions. Hibiki exchanges words through touch before he leads Jari inside the hut. It’s warm, nice. They settle down on some soft cushions and then Hibiki gives Jari a look.

“Ask. I’ll answer. If possible.”

“First, what are we? Escapists? I don’t understand.”

“We come from Oblivion. That dark pit. Void. We were humans once. Take my hand. Don’t be afraid.”

_I was a smith in Japan but moved to America. – A strange blast exploded the earth – Some managed to escape on those Floating Islands, I didn’t. Got sucked into a void. The Oblivion as it was still forming – Years I drift unconscious _

“Then I woke up. Changed forever. Craving blood to keep going,” Hibiki breaks their hand contact.

Jari is speechless. This sounds so surreal.

“Blood, you say?” That’s why the smell of Hibiki’s blood turned him against the man. It made him lose his mind. His control over his body. It was frightening.

“Yes. Human blood. But we can live on other blood,” the Japanese man reassures.

“But my control,” Jari stammers. Is there a way to control it?

“I know. It’s a curse. Escapists… Often lose sanity. Lose control. You…Have to fight.. it,” Hibiki’s eyes turn incredibly human. There’s despair visible. Jari gulps.

“It will be difficult.”

“How? How can I fight… this monster I’m becoming?” Jari starts coughing again. When he spits onto the floor, he sees it’s black bile. For a few minutes, his voice seems gone. So Hibiki continues explaining things. “Keep memories alive. Clutch onto your humanity. Eat enough. So no craving possible. Avoid fighting. Help other Escapists. Connect with them.”

Now Hibiki’s speech fades away too and the two men sit in silence. The Asian man points his finger in the air and then grabs Jari’s arm, sending more information through their minds.

_Be aware of humans – They’ll kill us on sight! – Hide your core._

Jari shivers at the thought. So he can’t even regroup with the humans for they do not see him as one of their own? Staring at his hands with sharp claws, he understands why. His hand comes to rest on his chest. Deep inside, he’s sure he can feel the strange core that keeps him alive.

“Rest. Tomorrow we hunt,” Hibiki finds his voice again.

Jari nods and lays down on a mattress. This will be his life now. Before he could even reconnect with other humans, he’s told he can’t. He only has these other strange… Escapists as his sole anchor to this strange world. Still, he has to figure out who he was. Because without those memories, his old self will fade away and then that killer instinct will get the upper hand!


End file.
